Cupid The Emerald Inferno
by Atomdancerrr
Summary: Warning! This is not one of my my usual warmidys. This is a tragic love story from Cupid's past, a horror story with monsters that really exist & they are not exaggerated here! Think Classic Trek's "Paradise Syndrome" & Who Mourns for Adonis?


Disclaimer: I do not own Trevor/Cupid or Claire/Psyche but neither does ABC. Just as they do I am borrowing them from the the future and from the infinite number of other universes and time lines where all our dreams are real.

Author's note. I always loved that dramatic scene in Classic Trek where Cupid's Uncle, Apollo passed on to still another realm from a combination of being drained dry by a thunder bolt versus phaser bank fight with the Starship Enterprise, and a broken heart. While I am as harmless as a writer as I am an Autisic and have no plans to have Cupid die of a broken heart (after all he's getting help), I wondered if I could find something for Eros to futility shoot at. I thought about it for a while. Finally one came to me! I am a voracious reader who has read everything from the Bible all the way through several times to Darwin's Origin of the Species. (They don't really conflict, evolution is in the New Testament: John 15:1-2). A book in the Bible gave me his target which incidentally would make a great wide screen, blockbuster horror movie.

I subscribe to Captain Kirk's theory about Uncle Apollo. "What if he IS Apollo?" Which can be extended to, "What if he IS Cupid?" I've decided to merge both universes which require me retro-writing some of my previous stories. So right before I uploaded this one I loaded, "Cupid Rescues Uncle Apollo" in which Cupid persuades his Uncle Apollo to get help instead of letting Captain Kirk destroy him! It I in the crossover section.

It has its warm and funny moments. This one definitely does not!

Warning! This is not one of my my usual warmidys. This is a tragic love story from Cupid's past + a horror story with monsters that really do exist and they are not exaggerated here! (Think Classic Trek's "Paradise Syndrome" with a slight touch of "Who Mourns for Adonis?" You WILL be in tears and you may have nightmares! A being 3000 years old has seen a lot of history. Minus Cupid this story has happened for REAL thousands of times!

Cupid: The Emerald Inferno!

By

Elizabeth Hensley 8-)

The Madmen ran across the field with the wind in his hair, shouting in pure joy at the incredible miracle of even existing! He ran as fast and as far a he possibly could until his heart became a sacred drum and the air felt as sweet as _every_ breath should feel!

His Therapist ran after him trying futility and forever to figure him out. But the Man who called himself Trevor but thought himself to be the Greco-Roman god of love was not someone easily caught or fathomed.

Finally his all too Mortal flesh refused another step. He flung himself to the sweet smelling earth with the abandonment of a Child or a Dog. But he stared upwards at the blue heavens with comprehension beyond mere Mortal minds. The ancient god of love knew that beyond the blue sky and this Universe soared another Universe and beyond that one still more and more, an infinite number so that everything that could happen had happened and would happen an infinite number of times.

An infinite number of Trevors were being chased by an infinite number of Claires in every possible combination. In some universes he was the Doctor and she was the Patient. In some they were both gods. In some they were both mad. In most they were both mad and gods and both Doctor and Patient.

(Though they did not know it this Universe was one of the later).

Claire reluctantly lay down besides Trevor, determined to enter his secret world, to see beyond his coal black eyes to know finally what in Trevor was Madness and what was Truth. But he was like a box she could not open though she tried and tried! Or if she got it open, it stayed so but for a tantalizing, nano-second and slammed shut again before she could grasp but a glimpse of its contents. The little she saw hinted at layers upon layer of madness, joy, sorrow and terror.

He seemed to have a gift for living in the Now; that priceless Present that is gift- wrapped by the hopeful, struggling Past and the glorious Future. That is highly unusual in any being, but for a Mental Patient to possess it was beyond anything her education had prepared her for. Despite popular literature to the contrary most Mental Patients felt little joy unless it was mania. But she knew from hours of careful observation that Trevor's joy was not pathological but genuine joy de vivre. Her boss did not believe her but she knew this as surely as she knew he could not possibly be a god!

Finally he got up, on the move again. She sighed and forced her weary body to continue to follow. It was a rare day they both had off together and she was determined not to waste it.

She pursed her lips. Before it was over there _would_ be a breakthrough!

But what he did next she could never have predicted!

It was late spring and the insects were in the prime of their lives. As he traveled through the park, slower now for he had worn off his earlier energy a Grasshopper whizzed past his feet.

He chased after it and took a flying leap. STOMP! He crushed it.

"There." he said smugly, "That one will never plague you."

Claire stared opened mouthed at her usually gentle Mental Patient as shocked as if he had just stabbed a Person! "Trevor I never saw you kill anything before! And you actually enjoyed doing so! That has me very worried! What was that about?"

Trevor stopped. A surprised look crossed his own face. It had been a completely reflexive action and done without thought. A bit embarrassed at his outburst, he shrugged, "Well there are Mortals and then again there are Mortals. Unlike my father I do what I can to protect Humanity from deadly danger."

Claire was puzzled and deeply concerned, "Deadly _danger? _It was just a harmless, little Grasshopper!"

Trevor' face took on a haunted look, "Harmless! Claire they are Mankind's most horrid Mortal Enemy! They are responsible for more Human misery and death than any other of nature's creatures! Animals too! My father hasn't killed so many of you in all the millennia he has been working!"

"Grasshoppers!?" Claire was amazed and skeptical and frightened for her Friend and Patient. "Our Mortal Enemy? I never thought there was any paranoia attached to your psychosis before. I have to make a note about this in your file and I am _very_ worried!"

Trevor stared at her amazed at her ignorance. "How quickly you Mortals forget!"

His face took on a haunted look like a Man who had seen way too much and wished he hadn't! Now his present lay unwrapped. He was being attacked by the past!

Claire was amazed and worried! _He __**WAS**__ disturbed! __But what was it about a __harmless, little Grasshopper that could put such a terrified, haunted look in his eyes? _She exclaimed, "Trevor you suddenly look like Man who has a severe case of post traumatic stress disorder! But how could such harmless little Bug set that off? It was just a Grasshopper!"

Trevor sighed. How can you possibly understand, Mortal Friend? You are a ridiculous 40 something years old! I'm a bit over 3000! You have a hard-worked for piece of paper that makes you think you know _every _thing! You _think_ you understand me! You _think_ I am just a gentle Madman! Someday you will realize I'm _not_ delusional and when you do, will you be able to cope? I _am_ quite mad at times! Yes! But it is not forgotten memories of some simple love affair from a deliberately erased life a measly few years earlier! It is _dozens_ of memories, _thousands of years worth_ I can _**NOT**_ forget! I try! Most of the time I succeed but there are times..."

Trevor sat down on a bench and buried his face in his hands. Tears started flowing like a river.

Claire sat down next to him, amazed that a simple trip to the park on such a beautiful spring day had turned into such an intense therapy session._ At least he was talking!_

He sobbed,"I watched way too many perfectly good Humans and other Mortals starve to death due to them! Some of them were personal Friends of mine!"

Claire' face showed her skepticism, "Because of a Grasshopper?"

Trevor had a look on his face of shadow and horror. "Yes Claire! Damn it! Grasshoppers! With an 's' on the end. Lots of 's's. Not one little Grasshopper, Claire!

"Billions!"

_Flashback 75 BC._

_The tween god walked amongst the Mortals, smelled and tasted their cooking, their milk, honey, beer and wine and smelled their warm, sweet flesh. There was nothing like the smell of a Mortal, nothing like the feel of one! They did not appreciate what they were!_

_All too often they thought the gods were angry with them! _

_If only they realized just how very much they were loved just because of exactly what they were not in spite of it!_

_Young Eros love-danced his lady friend amongst the sweet __smell of hay in the fall, and in the spring under the fragrant, cool, grape vines. It was fun to love and then reach up and pull down the clusters and eat their juicy tenderness right off the vine and share with__Chryseis__. She knew he was a god and that knowing made her willing in a way she would not have been with a Mortal. It happened rarely but maybe their love making would take, and a little half breed like the __mighty Hercules would soon walk the Earth. Cupid knew this, young as he was and though perfectly capable of fleeing his responsibility, he would not. He would live with her the ridiculously short 30 to 50 years or so it took for the child to grow to man or woman-hood and for __Chryseis__ to pass on. He would not be like his Grandfather Zeus or his Uncle Apollo who loved them and left them in tears to __cope alone with the seed of their loins. _

Chryseis rolled over, "Eros do you hear something?'

He rolled over with her, "No."

"There is something. I hear it."

"Huh?" It was beyond his male ears. But he reached out with his selective omnipresence. As he did so the god-smirk was slapped from his face!

_Flying green fire! A Gnawing Holocaust on wings bringing not death from radiation but from starvation: Slower and less painful but just as deadly. Before this multitude of monsters the land was green and rich and beautiful! In flight they sounded literally like hoards of helicopters arriving, there were so many of them! As they ate they sounded like the whip-snap crackling of of a raging inferno: Billions of tiny jaws devouring everything! Behind them was Complete Desolation!_

_Not one green thing left!_

_Not one!_

_The sky was black as a night without stars and it lasted almost eight hours. It was the longest eight hours ever for a being who would live for thousands. In the whirring, whizzing, gnawing darkness he had to frantically slap at them to keep the gnawing monsters from chewing off his clothes! The screams around him stopped quickly for to open one's mouth was to invite half a dozen in!_

_Young Cupid had **never** tried to kill anything before! Not ANYTHING! But something, some god, some caring soul had to stand between this incredible hoard and the helpless Mortals! But he was only a god against a nightmare! What could he do? But oh how he had tried!Hurling lighting bolts did no good! The gods know he tried! But the power was lost in the gap between them. Each jolt brought down a few hundred thousand._

_But what were a few hundred thousand in this hoard of billions?_

The older gods looked on with sympathy but they had learned themselves the hard way from other Locust plagues the futility of the young love god's attempt. But youth sometimes had to learn for themselves the hard way.

There were tears in Venus's eyes. Aphrodite made Baklava and planned to spend the next few months comforting her gentle son._ She was proud of his compassion but she knew its futility. If every god from every god-keep on Earth, all one thousand or so of them, plus the five thousand or so that lived around Alpha Centauri stood shoulder to shoulder and hurled until drained dry the Grasshoppers would still win!_

_She underestimated by centuries how long it would take to comfort her child._

Mars was disgusted, "Look at that fool kid of ours! Those Grasshoppers are doing my job for me! Why is he trying to save Humans? Doesn't he realize in a few thousand years _they_ will be the plague and practically bury the Planet under their filth and make the Grasshoppers look harmless in comparison?"

Aphrodite shook her head gently, "He's not a killer like you dear. He' too gentle. He takes after me."

"What a SHAME! That boy can hit anything with anything!"

Venus shook her head, "No he can't. Not if its alive!"

Mars shook his head, "Well considering its futility he's doing a pretty good job down there right now!"

A frown like a storm cloud creased his face. "Maybe that's the secret! If I could just get him to hate Humans like he hates those Grasshoppers!'

Aphrodite shook her head gently and hugged her husband close, "Dear, you never will. He has no one else to play with."

_Cupid hurled lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the flying green fire! But they kept coming and coming and coming! A little g god can only hurl out so much energy. Soon the desperate love god was laying in the dust as helpless as as a Mortal weeping with exhaustion, fear and shock! _

_For the first time the young immortal learned there were things in the Universe even the gods could not defeat!_

_The tween god yelled at the skies, yelled at the God who is Beyond All gods! Why didn't HE do something? But Cupid was too young yet to realize the Big Guy was God not just of Humans but of all the Mulltiverse's Life and seldom took sides. _

_The Grasshoppers finally left on their own to destroy other parts of the Mortal realm. _

_Holding his weeping Chryseis tight he stared around him at in amazement at the sudden desolation. It had been a rejoicing, living, breathing Eden before. Now it was the crying dessert!_

_As the days passed the young god listened helplessly to the bitter weeping of Old Folks who understood why there was no food and the persistent but ever weakening sobbing of Babies who did not! And the bawling of Animals who also did not understand! For Babies and Animals there was only the Eternal Now! For them the suffering seemed forever! They could not hear the gentle whisper of God and the gods and Angels in their minds trying to comfort them, trying to tell them that pain would not go on forever, that through science and faith working together far in the Future the collective labors of Total Humanity had created for them a Grand Second Chance!_

_Cupid lay amongst them, holding Chryseis, sharing their hunger. He knew it would not be right to take this one to Olympus. There was a better section of the Eternal Realm than that of his forever squabbling family waiting for her, a section too pure and happy for the wicked and disturbed gods to be allowed entry. He would never see her again._

_The young life inside of her, it had no chance! It would never walk the Earth a half blood god or goddess and taste its precious, sacred, fleshly joys._

_It would be from the very first a being of John's Cube!_

_Cupid lay behind her and hugged the ever weakening Chryseis close, piercing his loving consciousness into her welcoming mind, doing what precious little divine beings can to comfort Mortals and even then only when they will accept it. _

_Just as much a tiny part of the Cosmic Whole as His older, wiser parts, for the first time young Cupid faced the eternal horror and agony of the Divine! He could comfort the Mortals he loved through their Passion and suffer with them. But he could not deliver them from it. The circling time line had to go just so. To change the Past would be to change the Future which would then again change the Past. What they could have ended up with would be worse than its present scenario. The Omega Point of Evolution changed it cautiously each time around, as much as He dared. It was like unraveling a Gorgon's knot tied to a trip wire that could set off a nuke. It had to be done **extremely** cautiously and with but a tweak here and a tweak here each circling. To do more was too way too dangerous._

_In time the screaming and the sobbing stopped. It faded away. The souls were released to fly and dance to a better place. The flesh would be gone. Even the bones would disappear with the passage of time._

_The bitter, dry winds would blow away the precious, unprotected top soil. What had nourished Life was now but dust in the wind._

_Humanity and their Sheep and Goats and Cattle were but bit players in the gradual growth of the desolate Sahara._

_The biggest culprit was Grasshoppers!_

_Sometimes pesticides can be our friends!_

_Weeping bitterly, ripping his clothes, pounding on his chest, shaking his fists and shouting in futile defiance at Reality, Cupid stayed with Chryseis for hundreds of years, watching flesh devoured by Worms and Bugs, watching her precious bones rot away, watching all that was left of his beloved turn into dust and blow away with the relentless winds. He sobbed and grasped at the dust with his hands weeping bitterly but like sand through an hourglass the very last grain of Chryseis slipped away. Even a god cannot stop the passage of time!_

Claire stared at her very disturbed Patient amazed "Whatever was it that put you over the edge Trevor that false memories like these are an improvement?"

Trevor laughed bitterly, "False memories? Oh ho ho ho! If only ECT could be used to erase just the memories one wants erased instead of it being a crap shoot!"

Claire shook her head, "ECT helps some Mentally Ill amazingly well Trevor. We use muscle relaxants and anesthesia these days. No one jerks around any more. Our Patients tell us themselves that going to the Dentist is far worse. The memory loss is a very unwanted side effect. And of course you are right. We can't aim it to remove just the memories we want it too. It's for treating intractable severe depression, severe bipolar disorder and sometimes schizophrenia, not for what you have so you have never been seen as a candidate for ECT anyway."

Cupid stared at his oh so naive Mortal friend. "Oh Claire! How does one forget what drives one mad? If only you were right but in reverse! If only I could create a completely Mortal persona, some simple Barkeep only a few decades old, simple and happy and ignorant of the weight of history! Why oh why do I have to be a god?

"How nice it would be to really be able to forget! And I do most of the time. I do. But to always forget that would be selfish of me.

Trevor looked haunted."They were alive! They were happy and sad and calm and fearful, just like Mortals today! They sang, they danced and they loved and fought and worshiped! It is my divine burden to remember them once in a while, and thanks to reading and writing hopefully you Mortals will never forget them completely either!

"But let us also live for them Claire! Let us taste the sweet wine of life, feel the wind in our hair, the Sun on our face! We have a duty to _live_ for them and suck the sweet marrow out of flesh-life, because they no longer can!"

Again Trevor started to run across the park. He shouted joyfully, "let's go ride the merry-go-round, to celebrate and lament the merry-go-round we will forever ride and never escape from!"

Then suddenly Trevor stopped his running, turned and smiled at his Therapist and opened his arms wide for a hug.

Claire came to a winded stop. She resisted the professional wisdom not to ever touch a Patient and hugged him back. _There were times when rules were made to be broken._

They hugged for the longest of times.

Trevor said gently, "Eternal Love is what makes the Eternal Ride standable Claire Bear and we are ALL part of Eternal Love!"

He smiled and his eyes glowed with wild, savage, and primaeval joy.

"Yes! Even Mortals!"

**

Author's note. This is based on three books in the Bible, The Song of Solomon which is a torrid love poem that's closest literary relative is the Kama Sutra, the last two chapters of Revelation (due to self-fulfilling prophesy we win) and Lamentations which was obviously an eye witness account of just such a Green Inferno. Pesticides and other controls are used in modern Africa and other parts of the word today to stop these plagues. There is a time and a place for everything even insecticides and one of Humanitie's biggest blessings to the Planet besides our ability to spread its sacred, precious life to other habitats and stop the kind of monster-rocks that took down the Dinosaurs, may be our ability to use chemicals to stop the Flying, Green Fire.

If you want to read a comedy that bookends this tragedy the way, "The Trouble with Tribbles" bookends, "The City on the Edge of Forever" read my Cupid: "The Stygian Flood" or "Lovers and Madmen and Also Canadians," written by Icepixel. That last one is available in the Crossover, TV, Cupid section at fanfictiondotnet


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